Heat (1995) - Mann's superb masculine thriller showstopper

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The three stars above a mysterious image of five men with long shadows make up this stylish poster for Michael Mann's Heat

A five-man group of professional robbers leave a mess after they rob a large sum of money in bearer bonds, and a dedicated veteran LAPD detective begins to let them feel his heat on their tails.

 

Heat is written, co-produced and directed by great Illinoisan filmmaker Michael Mann (Thief (1981), inspired by the actual criminal case of Neil McCauley and detective Chuck Adamson in the early 1960s.

It is a fantastically well-made man's film. The showdown of the cinematic powers that are Robert De Niro (Greetings (1968)) and Al Pacino (Scarface (1983)), - who meet for the first time on-screen here, - is gladiatorial, but Mann refuses to let this be the film's main premise.

The thrills and suspense is the heart of Heat, which works as a cat-and-mouse game of wits for the two leads but is also heavily loaded with good drama. De Niro and Pacino are terrific, and in supporting roles Dennis Haysbert (Jarhead (2005)), Ashley Judd (High Crimes (2002)) and Amy Brenneman (Nine Lives (2005)) are particularly satisfying.

Heat is written, directed and edited so that its long running time never gets in the way of us always paying full attention; and Elliot Goldenthal's (Blank Generation 1980)) score adds to the tension in superior fashion. Heat is a tremendous joy.

 

Related posts:

Michael Mann: Top 10: Best drama-thrillers reviewed by Film Excess to date 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Collateral (2004) - Great, urban, digital age thriller from Mann in his right element

Manhunter (1986) - Perhaps the best criminal profiling picture ever 

Watch a very short teaser for the film here

 

Cost: 60 mil. $

Box office: 187.4 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.12 times its cost)

[Heat premiered 6 December (California) and runs 170 minutes. Mann wrote a 180-page draft for Heat in 1979 that eventually turned into a pilot for a TV-series, which was canceled after the pilot was made and released as TV movie L.A. Takedown (1989). Mann's success with The Last of the Mohicans (1992) allowed him to take up his old script and ideas once again. Shooting took place from February - July 1995, solely on locations in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Jumanji and hold-over hit Toy Story, to an 8.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5) and grossed 67.4 mil. $ ( 36 % of the total gross). In recent years Mann has teased a sequel to the film several times; Heat is widely considered his greatest film. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #126 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Rashomon (1950) and Yojimbo (1961). Mann returned with The Insider (1999). De Niro returned in The Fan (1996); Pacino in City Hall (1996); and Val Kilmer (5 Days of War (2011)) in The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). Heat is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Heat?

House on Haunted Hill (1959) - Castle and Price's spellbinding gimmickry

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A truly remarkable, sensational poster in riveting colors for William Castle's House on Haunted Hill

Eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren and wife Annabelle have invited five guests to a haunted house party: Whoever of the five guests survive the night will win 10,000 $.

 

House on Haunted Hill is written by Robb White (13 Ghosts (1960)) and directed by William Castle (The Chance of a Lifetime (1943)).

It is a very well-made horror that gets few characters together on a mysterious castle-like estate for a thunder-filled night, - something that's been seen countless times before. But this fresh foray has Vincent Price (Climax! (1955-57)) as the inimitable game master host, who casually drops lines with a catty tingle in his eye such as; "Hasn't every man thought about killing his wife?"

No one is who they appear in this Gothic, homicidal mystery, which is something very special. The rest of the cast are also fair, and the film has survived in beautiful condition. The classic, well-made score (by Von Dexter (Mr. Sardonicus (1961))) features organ and theremin, and the film's special effects include torn heads, an acid bath and walking skeletons!

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Estimated 0.2 mil. $

Box office: 2.5 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 12.5 times its cost)

[House on Haunted Hill premiered 14 January (San Francisco) and runs 75 minutes. Shooting took place from July - September 1958 in Los Angeles, California. The film is famous for the 'Emergo' gimmick devised by Castle for its theatrical release, which involved especially accommodating theaters' installing a pulley system near the screen, which allowed a plastic skeleton to fly over the audience near the end of the film. The system has been re-installed in a few theaters for enthused re-releases of the film since. Alfred Hitchcock was reportedly inspired by the film's success to devise Psycho (1960). It has since fallen into public domain and can therefore be seen free and legally right here. The film was remade with the same title by William Malone in 1999. Castle returned with The Tingler (1959). Price returned in The Big Circus (1959). House on Haunted Hill is fresh at 88 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of House on Haunted Hill?

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) - Chaney radiates humanity as tragic deformed hero in impressive production

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A dark and quite haunting, elaborate painting of the 'Festival of Fools' scene from the film makes up this atmospheric poster for Wallace Worsley's The Hunchback of Notre Dame

In Paris' Cathedral of Notre Dame in the year 1482 the outcast hunchback Quasimodo is in charge of the bells during a dramatic period, in which local gypsy beauty Esmeralda becomes the object of desire for the dashing Captain Phoebus.

 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is written by Perley Poore Sheehan (For Those We Love (1921)) and Edward T. Lowe Jr. (Educating Father (1936)), with Chester L. Roberts (Prisoners of Love (1921)) contributing uncredited contributions, adapting the same-titled 1831 novel by Victor Hugo (Bug-Jargal (1826), and directed by Wallace Worsley (An Alien Enemy (1918)).

It is an impressive major production, which shows what incredible lengths the Hollywood studio machine was able to traverse to entertain and woo the world in the roaring twenties. The result is grand and it is entertaining.

The film presents thousands of extras, horses, costumes, beautiful sets and the dilemma plot of Esmeralda caught between her raucous street background and her new-found love from the aristocracy. But the film's inevitable highlight is without a doubt Lon Chaney's (The Ace of Hearts (1921)) deeply impressive turn as Quasimodo.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Estimated 1.25 mil. $

Box office: 3.5 mil. $ rentals

= Box office success (returned 2.8 times its cost in rentals alone)

[The Hunchback of Notre Dame premiered 2 September (New York) and runs 102 minutes, with a cut version running 98 minutes and a director's cut version running 117 minutes. Chaney had personally bought the rights to make the film and was deeply involved in the production. Erich von Stroheim was reportedly his first choice to direct but was fired by Universal executive Irving Thalberg for budget overruns on his Merry-Go-Round (1923). Construction of the Notre Dame set took approximately 6 months, including 35 ten feet high replicas of the 'Gallery of Kings' statues. Shooting took place from December 1922 - June 1923 in California and France. The 3.5 mil. $ rental figure stems from a 1932 Variety article; it should be noted that a gross figure could then realistically be much higher. The film has fallen into public domain and can be seen and downloaded free and legally right here. Worsley returned with The Man Who Fights Alone (1924). Chaney returned in The Next Corner (1924). The Hunchback of Notre Dame is fresh at 92 % with an 8.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Hunchback of Notre Dame?

Top 10: Best fantasy movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

1. Back to the Future (1985) - Robert Zemeckis

 

 

2. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) - Andrew Adamson

 

 

3. The Lobster (2015) - Yorgos Lanthimos 

 

 

4. Batman Returns (1992) - Tim Burton

 

5. Being John Malkovich (1999) - Spike Jonze  

 

 

6. Groundhog Day (1993) - Harold Ramis

7. Benny's Bathtub/Bennys Badekar (1971, short) - Flemming Quist Møller, Jannik Hastrup

 

 

8. Death Takes a Holiday (1934) - Mitchell Leisen

 

 

9. Howl's Moving Castle/ハウルの動く城 (Hauru no Ugoku Shiro) (2004) - Hayao Miyazaki

 

 

10. Conan the Destroyer (1984) - Richard Fleischer

 

Selected from 63 titles labeled 'fantasy' or 'fantasy comedy'

 

Previous Top 10 lists:

Best action movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best adapted movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
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Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date         
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Best Danish movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best Disney movies reviewed by Film Excess to date     
Best documentaries reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Best dramas reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Best drama-thrillers reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Best dramedies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Top 10: Best drug-themed movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Best UK movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Best epic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  

Best erotic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Best family movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

What do you think of the list?
Which fantasy movies would make your personal Top 10?

Hellraiser (1987) - Barker's legendary horror debut

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Amazingly designed and colorized, the nightmarish poster for Clive Barker's Hellraiser

Julia discovers that her recently deceased brother-in-law, who she secretly had an affair with, is actually not wholly dead but caught in a the grip of a sadomasochistic cult from hell, a predicament Julia can improve by killing.

 

Hellraiser is written and directed by debuting Clive Barker (Salome (1973, short)), adapting his own 1986 novella The Hellbound Heart.

It is a classic in the modern gore horror genre and in 1980s horror in particular. As an epic, supernatural gore fest that mixes hell, demons and sex it is a rare breed, and Hellraiser is genuinely scary. The special effects and Cenobite monsters are innovative; the story is simple and thrilling, and some of the actors are skillful: Andrew Robinson (Child's Play 3 (1991)) and Clare Higgins (Being Human (2009, TV-series)) as the randy mother Julia are worth high-lighting.

 

Watch a brief TV promo for the film here

Cost: 1 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 15.5 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned more than 15.5 times its cost)

[Hellraiser premiered 13 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 93 minutes. Shooting took place in London, England from September 1986 - ?. The location was changed from England to North America in post production, with overdubbing created to sell this. Several cuts were made to obtain an R rating, as the MPAA were first inclined towards an X rating. The film opened #3, behind fellow new releases Fatal Attraction and The Pick-up Artist, to a 4.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend in the top 5 (#3) and grossed 14.5 mil. $. It made 763k £ in the UK, approximately 1 mil. $. Regrettably its box office in the rest of the world is unreported online. Roger Ebert gave the film a 0.5/4 star review, translating to 4 notches under this one; (Ebert simply did not understand the horror genre.) The film spun a franchise that spans 9 sequels so far, beginning with Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), all without Barker as director. Barker returned with Nightbreed (1990). Robinson returned in The Twilight Zone (1987, TV-series) and theatrically in The Verne Miller Story (1987); Higgins returned in The Fruit Machine (1988). Hellraiser is fresh at 73 % with a 6.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hellraiser?

The Hills Have Eyes (2006) or, My Big Fat Mutant Cannibal Family Trip

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A blond woman caught in a vice of bloody terror in a grimy design on this effective poster for Alexandre Aja's The Hills Have Eyes

An American family drive through the New Mexican desert in their RV, where they break down in an area that unfortunately has atomic test mutant cannibals roaming in the hills.

 

The Hills Have Eyes is written by Grégory Levasseur (Maniac (2012)) and co-writer/director Alexandre Aja (Furia (1999)), remaking the same-titled 1977 mega-hit horror by Wes Craven (Scream (1996)).

It's another action-packed post-millennial horror remake. The crazed mutants are hard to identify with (to put it mildly), and the charm of the story is limited. The sound work and countless scenes of characters looking-out-into-the-dark-only-for-a-menacing-shadow-to-pass-by also detract.

But the special effects, especially the mutants, are inventive, and there are some good horror ideas in The Hills Have Eyes, which positions it over other recent horror remakes such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and The Amityville Horror (2005).

 

Related post:

 

Alexandre Aja: Piranha 3D (2010) - Aja's gory sexploitation remake is a hoot

Watch a short clip from the film here

 

Cost: 15 mil. $

Box office: 70 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.66 times its cost)

[The Hills Have Eyes was released 10 March (North America, UK and Ireland) and runs 106 minutes. Shooting took place from June 2005 - ? in Morocco. The film opened #3, behind fellow new releases Failure to Launch and The Shaggy Dog, to a 15.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5) and grossed 41.7 mil. $ (59.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 6.2 mil. $ (8.9 %) and Germany with 3.6 mil. $ (5.1 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1.5/4 star rating, translating to 2 notches under this one. The film's success, though much less pregnant than the original film's, prompted less successful sequel The Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007) by a new director. Aja returned with Mirrors (2008). The Hills Have Eyes is rotten at 52 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Hills Have Eyes?